The present invention relates to a slot machine, especially to a slot machine wherein information about the preceding games or simulation of following games can be displayed.
Slot machines are well known as game machines in which players can play a game by inserting coins or tokens (hereinafter referred to as coins) prior to starting the game. When a hit, that is, the winning of a prize, occurs, a number of coins are paid out depending on the rank of the hit.
Each slot machine has a predetermined pay-out rate, that is, the total coin pay-out number-to-the total coin insertion number ratio. In a slot machine wherein a random number is sampled at the beginning of a game to decide the rank of a win based on the random number, and the stopping of the reels is controlled electrically correspondingly to the decided rank, it is possible to predetermine the pay-out rate by assigning each random number to any of the predetermined hit ranks as well as by determining the number of coins to be paid out for the respective ranks such that the obtained pay-out rate will correspond to a desirable value according to the probability theory. Also in a slot machine wherein reels stop with random timing, it is possible to select the hit symbol combinations-to-the total available symbol combinations ratio and the number of coins to be paid out for the respective hit ranks such that a desirable pay-out rate may be obtained according to probability theory. In either case, the total coin pay-out number-to-the total coin insertion number ratio approaches the predetermined pay-out rate the greater the number of games that are played.
Although a pay-out rate is predetermined for a slot machine in the above manner, most of the players play games for a limited time that is very short relative to the total operating time of the slot machine, so that the transient pay-out rate in that limited time does not always coincide with the predetermined pay-out rate. As a result, the probability of winning prizes changes, depending on the number of coins paid out for the foregoing games.
Considering this characteristic, it will be understood that a slot machine from which a great number of coins have already been paid out has a tendency to pay out a lesser number of coins thereafter. Such a characteristic or tendency is also known to skilled players from experience.
As described so far, whether a large number of coins can be won or not depends to a certain degree on the results of the past games. However, even when a player knows the above characteristics of slot machines, because no information about the previous games is given by conventional slot machines, the player cannot take advantage of this knowledge when selecting a slot machine to play a game. It is, of course, possible to observe others' play for a certain time as to see the progress of the preceding games before selecting a slot machine to play. But this is time-wasting and ineffective.